A beggar wight, who hugged his rags
And chattered in the cold;

Lean was his shape, his eyeballs dim,
Wrinkled his cheek, and old.

In a dark corner of the room
He sat with sorry cheer,
Not listening, till a word, a name,
Fell on his frozen ear:

"James Avery ;" and as he spake
One pointed through the pane,
At a great playbill on the wall
Of the damp and oozy lane.
On the dead wall the letters great
Made tempting bright display—
"JAMES AVERY, THE PIRATE KING,"
Was posted that night's play.

"Aye!" cried a tar, reading aloud,
"Well might they call him so!
The Pirate King-I grudge his luck!"
Then, with an oath, "I'll go !"

Another cried, "Ah, that's the life
To suit a sailor's style!

Ben Conway saw his palace, mates,
On Madagascar Isle;

And on a throne of red and gold
Jem sat, like any king,

With dark-eyed beauties all around,
As fresh as flowers in spring.

They brought him wine in cups of gold,
And each knelt on her knee-

Each clad in silk and precious stones!Ah, that's the life for me!"

Then spoke a third: "I sailed with Jem On board the Hurricane;

When he deserted I ne'er thought

To hear of him again.

And now it's long since last I heard
His name, and p'raps he's dead."
"Not so, he only takes a nap,"
A grizzly war's-man said;
"He has a fleet of fighting ships,
Swifter than ours tenfold;
Last spring he took six Indiamen
Laden with guns and gold!

There's not a corner of the main

But knows the skull and bones'-
Up runs the flag, and down comes Jem,
As sure as Davy Jones!

But let him have his fling. Some day
We'll catch him at his trade;
Short shrift-a rope, and up he goes-
And all his pranks are played !"

All laughed; but "not so fast," cried one; "It's not too late, I vow

His majesty will pardon him
If he'll surrender now.

The pardon's in the newspaper-
In black and white it's there-
If Avery will cease his games
They'll spare his life, they swear!"

All laughed again. "Jem's wide awake-
You don't catch birds with chaff-
Come back to biscuit and salt junk?
He is too wise by half.

Leave all his gold and precious stones,
His kingdom, and all that,
Bid all his lovely slaves farewell,

For labor and the 'cat' ?"

Ev'n as they speak a wretched form

Springs up before their eyes"Give me the paper, let me read!" The famished creature cries.

They thrust him back with jeer and laugh, But wildly answers he.

"Why, who's this skeleton?" A voice

Answers, "James Avery!"

Louder they laugh.

"The man is mad!"

They round him in a ring.

"Jem here in rags? No, he's in luck

As grand as any king!"

But soon he proves his story true,
With eager words and tones,

Then, as he ends, "Bread-give me bread!
I'm starving, mates!" he moans.

"Nay, drink," they cry, and his lean hands

Clutch at the fiery cup.

"Here's to the king who pardons me!"
He cries, and drinks it up.

He tells them of his weary days
Since that dark hour he fled,
A hunted thing, without a home
Wherein to lay his head.

Through some mysterious freak of fate
His name abroad was spread.
And not a wondrous deed was done
But that wild name was said;

And all the time James Avery dwelt
An outcast gaunt and grim,

Till, creeping home that day, he heard
His king had pardoned him.

The wild drink mounted to his brain,
He reveled maniac-eyed.

"Now to the playhouse-'twill be sport
To see thy shade !" they cried.

Between them, down the narrow street

They led his scarecrow form;

The wind blew chill from off the sea,
Before the rising storm.

They sat and saw the mimic play
Till late into the night-

The happy pirate crown'd with gold,
And clad in raiment bright;

The puppet swaggered on the stage
And drank of glorious cheer;

James Avery gazed-his famished laugh
Was pitiful to hear.

They parted. As the chill white dawn
Struck down the lonely lane,

It flashed upon the rainy wall,
And made the playbill plain.

"JAMES AVERY, THE PIRATE KING,"
The mocking record said—
Beneath, James Avery's famished form
Lay ragged, cold and DEAD!

THE DIAMOND WEDDING.

Come sit close by my side, my darling,
Sit up very close to-night :

Let me clasp your tremulous fingers
In mine, as tremulous quite.
Lay your silvery head on my bosom,

As you did when 'twas shining gold:
Somehow I know no difference,

Though they say we are very old. "Tis seventy-five years to-night, wife, Since we knelt at the altar low, And the fair young minister of God (He died long years ago)

Pronounced us one, that Christmas eve

How short they've seemed to me,
The years-and yet I'm ninety-seven,
And you are ninety-three.

That night I placed on your finger
A band of purest gold;

ANON.

And to-night I see it shining
On the withered hand I hold.
How it lightens up the memories
That o'er my vision come!
First of all is the merry children
That once made glad our home.
There was Benny, our darling Benny,
Our first-born pledge of bliss,
As beautiful a boy as ever

Felt a mother's loving kiss.
"Twas hard-as we watched him fading
Like a floweret day by day-
To feel that He who had lent him
Was calling him away.

My heart it grew very bitter

As I bowed beneath the stroke;

And yours, though you said so little,
I knew was almost broke.

We made him a grave 'neath the daisies
(There are five now, instead of one),
And we've learned, when our Father chastens,
To say, "Thy will be done."

Then came Lillie and Allie-twin cherubs,
Just spared from the courts of heaven-
To comfort our hearts for a moment:
God took as soon as he'd given.
Then Katie, our gentle Katie !

We thought her very fair,

With her blue eyes soft and tender,
And her curls of auburn hair.

Like a queen she looked at her bridal
(I thought it were you instead);
But her ashen lips kissed her first-born,
And mother and child were dead.

We said that of all our number

We had two, our pride and stayTwo noble boys, Fred and Harry;

But God thought the other way.